New Delhi, Nov 19 (KNN) The startup boom in the country is helping the self-help group's (SHG) to grow and expand their businesses, said Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh, on Friday.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of “SARAS AAJEEVIKA MELA, 2022” at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, Singh said the Ministry of Rural Development has received over 60,000 applications from 3 states for start-up ventures in niche products and crafts areas.

Singh pointed out that soon Didis (Women SHG Members) will have their own start-ups as the proposals are under active consideration in his ministry.

“It is due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched StartUp India from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, that has led us to have more than 80,000 start-ups from 400 odd startups in 2014,” he said.

India ranks third in the world in terms of the startup ecosystem and there are over 100 unicorns active in the country.

Lauding the progress of the DAY-NRLM Mission, Singh said, in 2014, there were 2.35 crore SHG members, but after Modi’s active support in the last eight years, the number of SHG members has swelled to about nine crore. He said, the target is to achieve 10 crore members by 2024.

The minister also informed that the cumulative loan to SHGs was about Rs 80.000 crore before 2014 and now the bank linkage has crossed over 5.7 lakh crore in the last 8 years, with an NPA of just 2.8 per cent.

The rural development minister informed that NRLM has been undertaking several efforts in supporting businesses run by rural SHG women that are engaged in producing food products, handicrafts and hand-loom etc.

As part of the efforts to connect producers to markets, NRLM and SRLMs have taken steps to promote curated products from SHGs and SHG member entrepreneurs through multiple channels such as Saras Gallery, State-specific retail outlets, e-Commerce platforms like GeM, Flipkart, and Amazon.

Moreover, there have been efforts by States/UTs also in getting SHGs products registered on e-commerce platforms e.g, Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho etc.

Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development said that there are about 8 crores 62 lakh women who are members of SHGs and they have a presence in 97 per cent of Blocks, while 85 per cent of them are directly connected with the network of the Ministry.

Sinha advised the SHGs and craftsmen to understand consumer demand to improve the products. He said the Ministry will give publicity to Mela through advertisement and SMS marketing so that all participants will get a chance to showcase their products to a large audience.

He also informed that last year’s sale worth Rs 4.32 crore was recorded, which may touch 6 crores this year in the SARAS Mela.  (KNN Bureau)